three little words
by gins-potter
Summary: a series of way Matt Casey and Kelly Severide say they love each other without actually using those three little words
1. Pull over, let me drive for a while

"Twenty."

It was the first time either of them had spoken since leaving the funeral, and Casey almost missed the muttered word. It came from beside him, where Severide was driving. He blinked at the countryside whizzing past, and glanced over to find his boyfriend clenching the wheel with white knuckles.

"What's that, babe?"

Severide didn't seem to hear him, or if he did, he showed no sign of it. "He was twenty years old," he continued, still in an undertone. "Twenty!" The last word was loud in the otherwise quiet car but Casey didn't flinch. Even when Severide thumped the wheel with his fist, and tears began to line his eyes, he just took the outburst in calmly. Severide glanced over and met his boyfriend's eyes, just for a second before he has to look back at the road. "He was just a kid," he said, and this time it's a whisper.

The kid was Rory Davis, the youngest in a long line of firefighters, who'd given his life in a gargantuan blaze that had ripped through Chicago's industrial district for an entire weekend. Almost every station in the city had responded, but they'd been lucky and had only lost the one man, not that that made them feel any better.

The turn out for the funeral had been massive, friends, family, city officials, almost the entire CFD all crammed into the church to pay respect for the young man who'd given his life. Casey himself had spent the better part of the trip home trying to get the image of the kid's service photo, projected on a large screen near the altar, out of his head. But he could see it was tearing Severide apart twice as much, probably because his squad and the kid's truck company had been working the same building when they'd lost him.

So, knowing that there was nothing he could say to make Severide feel better, Casey said the one thing he could. "Pull over. Let me drive for a while."

There was only a moment's hesitation on Severide's part before he jerked the car sharply over to the side of the road, and came to an abrupt stop. The few cars on the road with them went whizzing past, racing for the city in the distance. Severide shoved open the door and Casey followed suit, passing each other in front of the bumper. He wanted to reach for his obviously distraught boyfriend, especially when he saw the tears streaming down his cheeks, but sensed that it wouldn't be well received.

So he got behind the wheel without another word, and pulled slowly back out into traffic, leaving Severide to fling an arm across his face while he regained his composure. It was only a few minutes later that Casey felt a hand on his thigh, squeezing gently, and he took a hand off the wheel, and dropped it to twine their fingers together.

* * *

 **Heyo, guess who's starting a new writing challenge. Yup this bitch. So this fic will be a series of ways Sevasey say they love each other without actually saying I love you, based on a prompt list I found online. There will be 100 chapters, updated whenever I write them. And they will probs be 500 words or less. Kinda like little flash ficlets. Anyway enjoy, favourite, and review :)**


	2. I saw this and thought of you

**tiny bit of context that probably doesn't matter, casey recently came out as bi just before this fic.**

* * *

Severide burst through the door of his apartment, strode into the living area where Casey and Darden were cloistered away, studying for an upcoming exam, and slapped his bounty down with a triumphant grin. He'd been out running a few errands when he'd seen it in the post office and had been unable to resist.

"I saw this and thought of you."

Pretty blue eyes emerged from behind the textbook, and Severide ignored the accompanying clench of his stomach and the uptick of his heart that had become the norm recently. Casey let loose an exaggerated sigh and set his textbook aside so he could pick up the gift, and even Darden leaned over to have a look.

Whatever Severide had expected Casey's reaction to be, it certainly hadn't been the quirk of his eyebrows and the slow unfurl of a smirk across his face. Casey glanced up at him, expression wickedly curious.

"You saw the '2000 CFD Calendar'..." Casey paused to deliberately glance back down and check the wording. "'12 shades of steamy' and thought of me?"

Yeah, Severide had definitely not thought this all the way through.

Darden let out a strangled noise from the other armchair and Casey's smirk grew.

"Well, ummm" Severide floundered. He glanced to Darden for help, but his best friend was useless, pressing his lips tightly together as if to physically contain the laughter. "I don't- Are you telling me you don't appreciate the guys in there? They're quite fit."

Casey tilted his head as if conceding the point, before heaven help him, actually started flipping through the calendar to appreciate the men in all their near naked glory. Severide gritted his teeth when Casey paused on July, and the young blonde who was shamelessly straddling a hose with a filthy grin, hoping that Casey didn't notice the resemblance, unlike Severide.

"Still, you saw a calendar of hot, shirtless men, and decided to buy it for me, your male friend?"

"Yeah, Kelly," Darden piped up suddenly. "That is interesting, don't you think?"

Severide cut him a hard glare, hoping it fully expressed how much Darden was not helping in this situation. Whether it did or didn't, Darden just grinned his familiar trouble-maker's smile and sat back to listen unabashedly.

"You're always worrying that you're going to miss a class or an exam, so I thought you might benefit from a calendar. And we're joining the CFD, of course, I saw it and thought of you."

"And maybe Kelly thought it was something you could strive for," Darden added innocently.

If looks could kill, Andy surely would have been dead ten times over from the daggers Severide was shooting from his eyes. He glanced back at Casey, hoping his friend would focus on the kind sentiments attached to the gift rather than reading too far into it.

"Thanks, Kelly," Casey said, and stood gathering up the calendar and his books. "This will be really helpful, and it was certainly… enlightening."

Severide managed to keep his face straight until Casey had disappeared into his bedroom, the door clicking shut behind him, and they heard his music turn on. Then his expression fell into a grimace as he groaned.

"Do you think he knows?"

Darden flicked a page of his textbook idly. "What? That you're desperately in love with him? Nah, probably not." There was a beat of silence. "He knows you want to screw him though."

Severide threw up his hands in frustration, and stomped into his room, slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

 **hey guys**

 **so i'm a total idiot and actually finished this chapter ages ago and then forgot to post it. yup i'm just that smart. anyway idk if this is exactly "i love you" but it amused me so here you go.**

 **i really hope you like it and i'm sorry it took so long. don't forget to comment and let me know what you thought.**


	3. No, no, it's my treat

**i'm sorry in advance but grumpy casey and loving severide is one of my all time favourite dynamics.**

 **also not that important but in terms of timeline i put this pre-show but established relationship.**

* * *

Severide isn't sure what makes him do it, but when the waitress puts the check down on the table between them, he reaches for it, pulling it towards himself before Casey can get a hand on it.

"No, no, it's my treat."

He says the words before he can fully think them through, and doesn't miss the way Casey's eyes flicker to his, something hard in them.

"It's fine, Kelly, I can pay my share."

The waitress shifts uncomfortably, probably debating whether she should give them a moment, or wait it out. To spare her, and ignoring the glare Casey throws his way, Severide pulls a few bills from his pocket and stuffs them in. Casey meanwhile stands abruptly and stalks off, slamming the door to the dinner behind him as he goes. Severide grimaces and hands the check back to the waitress.

"Thanks, darling," he says with an easy smile, before pushing himself out of the booth quickly so he didn't lose Casey.

He found the blonde stalking down the street, hands stuffed angrily in the pocket of his hoodie, and jaw working furiously.

"I don't need you to pay for me all the time, alright?" Casey bursts out before Severide can say anything. "I'm not some charity case."

It's the same argument they've been having as long as Severide and Darden had known Casey. He wasn't sure what it had been, Casey was only a year younger, but with his dead father, imprisoned mother, and distant sister, he'd always seemed so much younger, and so much alone in the world than either of them. And so ever since they'd met him on their very first day of the academy there'd been some innate instinct to protect him. An instinct they'd been unable to shake even now, years later. Which was why Casey nearly always insisted on splitting every check, every bill right down the middle.

But this hadn't been about that, so Severide said nothing, an unusual show of restraint from him, whereas he'd usually always be looking for an argument. His silence only seemed to spur Casey on because he stopped suddenly and turned to Severide, opening his mouth to no doubt continue his tirade.

At least until Severide grabbed him by the front of the hoodie, hauled him close, and pressed their lips together, stopping his boyfriend in his tracks. Neither of them were usually ones for public displays of affection like this, especially not in the middle of a public street, but it was so cold out they were the only ones out and about.

"If you think that's going to shut me up-" Casey began again, voice still seething with anger.

Severide groaned, checked first left, then right to make sure the sidewalk was still deserted, before yanking him forward into another kiss.

Case seemed a little more placated this time when they parted and Severide cupped his face between his hands, thumbs rubbing softly along the jaw that was still clenched tight. "I just wanted to treat my boyfriend to something nice, alright?"

Casey continued to glare at him even as Severide felt him relax under his palms. The blonde grumbled something unintelligible but Severide wasn't letting him up so easily.

"Alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, alright."

* * *

 **hellooooooooo, i'm back.**

 **I've been in such a mood to write Sevasey lately (but not motivated enough to update my multi-chap fic bleugh) so I smashed out the ending to this little ficlet. I swear all I do is write grumpy Casey with a patient, loving Severide but I'm such a slut for that dynamic. I also love exploring how Casey's past affected him.**

 **Hope you liked it, and make sure to leave a review telling me what you thought.**


	4. Come here, let me fix it

Their apartment, cramped and cluttered on the best of days, was a flurry of activity on the day of their graduation ceremony. Neither Severide nor Casey had much family attending but Andy's parents were so proud of their son, the firefighter, that they'd invited half their family tree to celebrate the exciting day. Not that Casey begrudged Andy that, even if having so many unfamiliar people in their apartment made his skin crawl a little; he was sure if things were different for him he'd want his family around him today as well.

As it was, he only had a sister sitting in the corner, covertly checking her watch to see how much longer until she could get back to her college dorm room.

Casey looked away from Christie, eyes skipping over one of Andy's countless aunts yelling at her numerous children to behave, skirted around Andy's grandmother yelling to anyone who would listen about how she'd forgotten her hearing aides at home, and finally settled on Severide, who was standing just inside his bedroom doorway, wrestling with his tie. Chuckling to himself, Casey waded through the many Darden family members clustered in the room and finally reached him.

"Having trouble?" he teased, leaning against the door frame.

"Shut up," Severide grumbled without looking up, no bite to the words. Casey watched him struggle with the tie for another minute before letting out a breath, somewhere between a chuckle and an exasperated sigh.

"Come here. Let me fix it."

Severide peered up at Casey, almost shyly, through his lashes, and another breath caught in Casey's throat. He had always found the other man unfairly attractive, with thick dark hair, the barest trace of stubble along his strong jaw, and lips that Casey ached to taste. He'd put Severide firmly in the out-of-bounds category when he and Darden had offered him the third bedroom of their apartment, but still there were moments when that attractiveness caught up with him and stole his breath away. It didn't help that Severide was standing there buttoned up in his brand new dress blues, a far cry from his usual jeans and grease-stained t-shirts.

Casey swallowed roughly and took the two ends of the tie Severide was offering him, trying not to fumble as he tried to knot them together. It was hard though, when he could feel Severide's eyes on the side of his face, breath hitting his skin in warm puffs, making him realise how close they were standing.

"How's it looking?" Severide said, voice much more alluring than it needed to be in Casey's opinion.

"Uh," Casey said, blinking stupidly, affected by Severide's heady proximity.

The sudden appearance of Severide's mother drew them apart and she clucked her tongue disapprovingly at the mess Casey had made of the tie. Jenni Sheridan was an impressive woman, always in motion, and commanding despite her short stature. She had Severide's tie fixed in a matter of seconds, and only took a few more to tie Casey's as well, before stepping back and fixing them both with a proud smile.

"You boys ready?" she asked, seemingly oblivious to the moment she'd just interrupted.

* * *

 **yo, i is back on my sevasey bullshit,**

 **i've had this one in mind as soon as i read the prompt, it just took me a little while to bring it all together.**

 **lowkey sucks about the reduced season, right? but ya know, gotta stay safe and all that. hope you are all staying safe out there as well.**

 **as always, hope you enjoyed, let me know what you thought, thanks in advance for kudos and comments xx**


End file.
